A Light Through an Open Door
by kerithwyn
Summary: What happens in the Barn doesn't stay in the Barn. A very end-of-s3 AU. [Audrey/Duke]


Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Fandom: Haven

Relationship: Duke Crocker/Audrey Parker

Characters: Audrey Parker, Duke Crocker, Byron Howard, Jordan McKee

Summary: What happens in the Barn doesn't stay in the Barn. A very end-of-s3 AU.

Notes: Written for TroublesFest 2014.

* * *

She found a library in the white barn.

It was a library of _her._

Not of "Audrey Parker," because Audrey was just the latest...incarnation of whatever she is. The newest edition, so to speak. All her previous versions were here, gilded name-titles shelved neatly in chronological order. A complete testament to her—their—lives. And when she leaves the barn, when her memory is wiped again and she becomes someone new, Audrey will take her place on the shelf.

Audrey stared at the empty space that would hold the memory of everything she was and wished for a hammer to break the pristine white shelves.

But all the surfaces in the barn seemed impervious to harm, or even stains. The blood Jordan had leaked all over the floor vanished, soaking into the pure white concrete and fading from view within...

...well, within what seemed like minutes. Could have been hours, or days. Audrey was pretty sure the usual rules of time and space didn't apply here.

She turned away from the bookshelves, resolutely refusing to count the number of volumes that adorned the walls. Too many. More, she thought, than could be accounted for by what she knew of Haven's history. The implications were clear, and stunning. How long had this been going on? How many times—

Audrey cut the thought off and went to look for Duke.

* * *

The first few minutes (hours? days? she really had to stop that) in the barn were a blur of panic. James was nowhere to be seen, but moments after Audrey went into the barn of her own goddamned free will, Duke and Jordan McKee appeared. The first breathing hard and looking around in angry wonder; the second, bleeding out from two bullet wounds.

"What—" Audrey started, and tabled the rest in favor of trying to staunch the bleeding. After a second Duke dropped to his knees and helped, his frantic motions accompanied by a liberal amount of swearing.

"She shot Nathan, I shot her," he said all on a breath. And then he pulled his hands back with a sudden realization as if he'd been burned...except he hadn't. "Wait, why didn't I get zapped?"

"Troubles don't work in here," Audrey said absent-mindedly, stuck on Duke's other comment. "What about Nathan?"

"Don't know." Duke's face was grim as he bent again to help Audrey. "He was still standing when I left but I know he got hit at least once. Maybe more."

Not that, not after she'd decided to enter the barn to save him and everyone else in Haven. She wouldn't accept—

Audrey kept her eyes and hands busy on her task. "Duke, what the hell are you _doing_ here?"

Duke just shook his head. "Are you okay?"

_Are you yourself,_ Audrey heard. For the moment, she seemed to be. "Yeah, fine."

Duke stared down at his blood-soaked hands and said, "Audrey, look."

The blood that had trickled onto the floor was disappearing, leaching into the concrete like a backward time-lapse image. But more important, Jordan's wounds—which Audrey had judged fatal at first glance—were closing up and color was coming back into the woman's face.

"The barn's healing her," Audrey said softly. "Just like it healed James."

Duke exhaled, a long shaky breath. "Wow."

Jordan was visibly improving by the moment, so together Audrey and Duke moved her to an alcove off the main hallway.

Duke spent a while filling her in while Jordan slept. _Nathan,_ she wanted to wail after Duke finished. Nathan had been shot at least twice and whether he could feel it or not, he could still die of the injuries. Dwight would take care of him, Audrey thought a little desperately. But that was beyond her now.

"Duke, why are you here?"

He just looked at her. "Nathan asked."

Right. Audrey glanced away, down the long hall. "You stay with her. I'll see what else is here. Maybe I can find a blanket."

She didn't find a blanket, or anything else in her wandering. The stark walls seemed to mock her. Were there beds here? Showers? Food?

Were any of those things even needed here? Audrey hadn't eaten for hours but she wasn't the least bit hungry. She couldn't imagine sleeping here and the ambient temperature felt comfortable, not too warm or cold. The impulse to find a blanket had been more an automatic reflex than actual need, given Jordan's rapid healing.

That was when she found the library.

* * *

She'd seen nothing else during her walk down the barren corridor. James had to be here somewhere, but there didn't seem to be any interior doors or hidden rooms, so shouldn't she have found him?

As if this place had _logic,_ Audrey thought with disgust, mostly aimed at herself. As if everything she knew had any bearing here. Especially because everything she knew from before she came to Haven wasn't actually her own. Audrey headed back to where she'd left Duke, empty-handed.

Duke looked up when she came around the wall. "Jordan woke up for a bit, but she's asleep again. Seems to be okay. I didn't—" he broke off. "No, hell, I did mean to shoot her. But I'm glad she's not dead."

Audrey smiled because _Duke._ "Me too. But Duke, I don't know what this place will do to her, or to you. I don't think...I don't think people are supposed to be here."

Duke just tilted his head. "You're here."

"Other people," Audrey qualified before she caught on that Duke was yanking her chain. She smiled a little, grateful. Of everyone in Haven, he always had the gift of making her feel the most normal. "Seriously, we need to figure out how to get you out of here before twenty-seven years pass."

He shrugged a little. "Audrey, for all we know, it could already have been twenty-seven years. This thing bounces through time, right? It could be 2037 outside." Duke paused, clearly doing the mental math. "Nathan would be 62. Wonder if he kept his hair?"

Audrey laughed because seriously, what else could she do. She'd already checked what seemed to be the front door and found it sealed, no sign of a handle or doorknob.

"I'm not sorry."

Duke's voice was a little too emphatic, his face a little too set. "I'm not sorry I jumped in here. Nathan asked but I would've anyway, if I'd thought..."

He stopped talking. Audrey could finish the sentence: if he'd thought it would do any good. He'd already done so much, sacrificed so much for her, and for Duke to sit there now and tell her that he didn't _regret_ being trapped in a supernatural, time-traveling barn...

Duke had been willing to let her go because she asked him to. He'd killed a man because she asked him to. Yeah, it'd all been more complicated than that but at the core of it Duke had stood with her every moment along the way, even when he'd had no reason to. Especially when he'd had no reason to.

Duke sighed. "If we're gonna be stuck here for a while, might as well get comfortable." He sprawled out on the floor, long limbs stretching out, hair spilling everywhere.

It would take a stronger woman than her to resist. Audrey sat down by his head and combed her fingers through the long strands.

Duke started, then actually _purred_ like a kitten. Audrey giggled, amused, but didn't stop. She ran her fingernails over his skull and Duke's eyes fluttered closed. "Give you about a thousand years to stop doing that."

"God, you're easy."

He opened his eyes and looked at her, expression painfully open even inverted. "For you? Yeah. But you knew that."

"Yeah." She'd known long before Colorado.

She was already half in love with him. It would've been easy with Duke, far easier than with Nathan. She hadn't really processed the truth about Sarah. Finding out was bad enough. Nathan not telling her was worse. But the idea that her multiple incarnations were interchangeable...she didn't know if she could truly forgive that.

Duke didn't expect her to be anything but who she was, even if she didn't know who that should be. She'd been imprinted with the knowledge and basic personality of the original Audrey Parker, but that wasn't all she had to be. She didn't have to be anything. After seeing that library of bound lives, that fact had become even more clear. At heart she was a vessel for Haven's deliverance, or at least its twenty-seven year reprieve. Whatever else she chose to be was entirely up to her.

...Assuming there was anything beyond these stark walls, a life to return to. Right here, right now, there was a simple choice to be made and she made it without hesitation.

She leaned down and kissed Duke, catching his lower lip. He returned the kiss enthusiastically, if clumsy given their positions.

After a moment he sat up, twisting around to face her. "Audrey, not that I'm complaining...but now?"

She managed a ghost of a smile. "If not now..."

"Yeah, point." His big hand came up to cup her cheek and she leaned into it. She remembered that from Colorado, how safe she felt in his arms. She wanted that now, needed it for as long as they had here.

Duke paused again, hesitant. "You and Nathan..." he trailed off.

Audrey eyed him because, honestly. "_You_ and Nathan."

Duke huffed an acknowledging laugh and that was the end of his objections.

* * *

Agent Howard—no, not "Agent," he didn't deserve the title unless she was thinking of him as an agent of this place—stood in front of them, having appeared as suddenly as before. He looked ashen, sick, and not at all steady on his feet.

At least, Audrey thought, he'd waited until they had their clothes more or less back on.

Howard didn't seem to notice their dishabille, or care. "You need to go."

Audrey blinked at him, getting to her feet in an effort to preserve at least a little dignity. "That's it? What about the twenty-seven years thing?"

Howard shook his head. "We haven't..." he hesitated, but for once Audrey thought it wasn't because he was trying to obfuscate, but because he was trying to find words for things that might not be explainable. "Fallen out of time, I guess you'd say. We're stuck in-between states." He stared directly at Duke and said, "I believe Mr. Crocker's presence has something to do with that. He's...an anchor."

_Of course he is,_ one part of Audrey's brain commented, while another portion noted that despite Howard's pointed comment, he didn't seem at all certain. The circumstances were unique, then, an anomaly.

But Howard didn't seem interested in discussing it. "The way is clear for you to leave. Both of you."

Audrey held her ground. "What about Jordan?"

"Leave her," Howard said abruptly. "She and I need to have a chat about her...future prospects."

Whatever Jordan had done, she was still one of Haven's Troubled, which made her Audrey's to look after. "What do you mean?"

"Audrey," Duke said from behind her, thoughtful, "I don't think she can leave the barn."

She whirled to see his face. Duke looked unsure but willing to go with his gut. "Those bullet holes. You saw as well as I did, they would've killed her. If she leaves..."

"The wounds come back," Audrey finished for him, knowing it for the truth. She turned back to Howard for confirmation.

He nodded, shrugging and then wincing at the motion. "It's...my time. The barn needs a new guardian. By sheer circumstance, Jordan happens to be in the ideal position to take the job. It's her choice," he said, forestalling Audrey's protest. "It's always a choice."

"Between death and _this_?" Duke said, his tone hot. "Trapped in here for what, decades? Longer? What kind of life—"

"Hers to choose," Audrey said, and all the fight drained out of Duke. How like him, she thought, to argue for freedom even when it involved someone he didn't particularly like.

"Damn straight," a voice croaked from down the corridor.

They all turned to see Jordan, leaning against one of the center beams. She looked worn but whole, and as fierce as the day Audrey met her. "Appreciate the concern, Crocker, but like she said, it's my choice." She snorted a small, bitter laugh. "Not much of one, but I'll take it. Given the alternative."

Howard nodded solemnly. "You'll find the position has unexpected rewards. But we'll talk about that later." He winced again. "Not too much later."

That sounded like a cue. Audrey nodded to Jordan, as congenial a gesture as she could manage. The woman had paid for her crimes in blood, and then some. Then she turned back to Howard. "I need to know. What happened to James?"

"He's gone, Audrey. Truly passed on."

She stared at him, swallowing hard. Part of her knew it already, had been mourning the son whose life she never knew. She felt Duke's hand brush against her shoulder, his presence a solid comfort.

Howard pointed toward the front door and Audrey saw a doorknob where there hadn't been one before.

"What's out there?"

"It's okay, Audrey." Duke was right there, standing beside her. "Whatever it is, we'll deal."

Audrey took Duke's hand and opened the door.


End file.
